No RA Call

I was really thinking that this was the week we were going to receive our RA. Received the email this afternoon from the agency that stated that all RA calls had been completed. The Vinyards did not get a call today. We are obviously disappointed, teary and happy for the ones that did receive theirs. I'm not sure if we just continue to wait it out or call our family coordinator or what? The waiting has been difficult on several levels (which I know several of you have been there). All in God's timing.

Philip turns 10!!

Today, our 1st baby turned TEN! Wow. The last ten years have flown by. Philip is a wonderful son. We are very blessed that he is our son! He is a great big brother (most of the time!) and is super excited about Sydney Hope coming home. Since Philip's birthday was on the weekend, we let him decide what we were doing for the day. (also we know that eventually Philip will not want to spend his birthday with us :(!) He just wanted to stay home & hang out! We cooked cinnamon rolls for breakfast, played the DS & playstation, went for a bike ride, watched the Tour de France (which bummed us out bc/we are big Armstrong fans) and went to the pool. Philip's Uncle Justin (my brother), Aunt Melissa & Ava came over for awhile to hang out. They bought Philip a remote control whoopie cushion for his birthday. I'm amazed at how that can make all generations giggle! Great present guys! Several pranks were played during the day.

Happy Birthday Philip! We love you. Our yummy breakfast with candles!
This is Philip's big birthday present! A lot of the family chipped in for this awesome cool Specialized bike. Philip picked out his bike early for the big tri race.

This is Ashlyn going down the slide today at the pool.

Philly hanging out in the pool!

Town Club Triathlon

PJ & the kids competed in the Town Club Triathlon. This was Philip & Ashlyn's first triathlon. Philip was a little nervous before the race. But both kids were excited! PJ competed first. This is his 3rd tri but 1st of this season. PJ's quote about the race was that he "finished". He tends to be a little hard on himself. The kids also compete in swimming, biking & running. I was amazed at how fast the kids competed. We did not get a lot of pictures of the event because the kids started at different times. Philip was completely done with his race before Ashlyn left the pool area. My mom, PJ (who already competed) and myself were tired from running back & forth trying to see both of them & help them with their gear! We loved all of the kids enthusiasm for the event.

PJ after his race. Everyone received medals!

Philip is a great swimmer.

Check out Philip's new bike! Early birthday present.

Philip at the finish line. Great job Philly!

Philip with his medal. (the medal looks small in person too!!)

Ashlyn trying to hurry up with drying off & getting her gear on.

Ashlyn speeding to the transition area to start the run.

I love the look on her face.

Ashlyn at the finish line. Good Job Ash!

(FYI--that is Ashlyn's markings (age/race) mixed with sunscreen on the back of her leg. Looks kinda gross!)

The kids with their medals! Great Time.

Nothing New!

The girls room is almost finished. Just a few things left to do. My mom took Philip, Ashlyn & Ava (my two year old cutie niece) shopping to buy a few things for Sydney. They picked out really cute outfits. Mom said that Philip was a big help in picking out the clothes. Isn't that cute! I just love how much Philip and Ashlyn think of their baby sister. I need to go buy some bows to match some of the outfits.

Nothing new in the adoption process. If we don't hear any news today (Friday), it will be next week for any new news. I don't think that the agency has received a packet of RAs recently so still hoping that ours is in the next batch. I took some pictures of the kids to send with our care package. I took a few of them holding Sydney's pictures. They turned out super cute! I was going to post one, but decided not to since you could really see Sydney (which is the point when we are sending it to Sydney). So I posted the one without Sydney in a picture frame!

The wait is still difficult on us. But I'm trying not to focus on it. Also trying not to count what "day" we are on. PJ is better at this than me. Thank you for the sweet comments. I save a lot of them in my email folder & reread them throughout the week.

Have a wonderful weekend! PJ & the kids are doing a "tri" on Saturday. This is the kids first one so wish them luck!

Phone Call with FC

I spoke with our FC (family coordinator) this afternoon. We are on day 116 of waiting for our official approval from China to adopt Sydney Hope. Day 116! FC checked CCAA's website and it showed that the Vinyards are still "in process". She also explained the process of receiving RA's. It is not a first come first serve system AT ALL. Our dossier had to pulled from the "healthy track", translated, more stuff that I can't remember right now & then approved. FC thinks that we will receive our RA in about 2 weeks according to recent trends. BUT some families have waited 5 MONTHS!! (not what I wanted to hear!) She also said to not get wrapped in the number of days you have been waiting (hello--how can you not when sweet chubby cheeked Sydney is waiting for her forever family!) I agree with her but WOW can I do it.
After we receive our RA, I can post pictures of Sydney on this blog! The girls room is slowly coming along. I bought under the bed plastic tubs to store Ashlyn's too small clothes for Sydney. Still not sure what size Sydney will wear here in the States. I'm thinking she will need several new things!! I'm buying her dresser this week. I'll post pictures of the room when it is complete!

4th of July Fun

The kids & I spent the weekend at the ranch house (in Clarendon) with my family. PJ & his dad always play in a golf scramble over the 4th in Shamrock. So PJ was able to spend some time with his dad and granny. The weekend was filled with normal ranch stuff--ladder ball, hanging out, lots of good food, homemade ice cream & brownies, games, riding the mule (ATV for you non-Texans!! just kiddin'), picking wild flowers, checking the hog traps and on and on! We also did a little bit of fireworks but the rain kept us from driving over to the lake to see the bigger ones. Sydney will be here next year for the 4th of July! That is exciting!
(Adoption Update--Nothing to report. Today is 115 days waiting for the approval. We need the RA to come so we can plan our big party!)

Don't they look cute in their red flag shirts! Ashlyn's year on hers is 2006 and she can still wear it. Not sure what that means??
Philip and I playing around with the timer on my camera. That was fun!

Ashlyn just being beautiful!

Ashlyn & Earrings

After almost a year of wanting to get her ears pierced, Ashlyn gets her ears pierced! Ashlyn told me this morning that she wanted to get her ears pierced today. We have heard this SEVERAL times before with nothing happening. But she was determined to get them pierced today. And guess what? She did it! We are all so proud of her! She is very afraid of needles so this was a big deal for her. You can't really tell in the pictures but her earrings are pink flowers. They are really "fashionable" (that was her word!).

What the Kids Have Been Doing!

The kids started martial arts 2 weeks ago. And they LOVE it! They want to go every night during the week. They even went on Saturday morning last week. One thing really nice for PJ & I is that both of them can attend the same class.
We are enjoying the summer. The girls (my Mom, Aunt, GG, Ash & myself) started on changing Ashlyn's room to Ashlyn & Sydney's room. The bedroom is the old master from the original house. It is a BIG room with two walk-in closets. We are still waiting on our RA. The 100 day mark will come next weekend. Hoping the RA comes soon! I'm trying to remain somewhat positive during this wait and not enter my pity party again.

***not sure why Ashlyn's head is cut-off in the pictures. Sorry!

All About Sydney Hope

We received our Sydney update early this morning. All four of us just stared at the pictures. She has grown so much since the last March pictures (yes as in 3 months ago!). Sydney is just so cute! Super chubby cheeks. The update included the answers to almost all of our 10 questions, new measurements & 4 photos. I'm sure this sounds bad--but I really wanted the new pictures. Sydney is still sporting the orphanage haircut but she is rockin' it. Her face is just so cute!
One of Sydney's favorite activities is going out to morning tea. In Guangzhou, people enjoy morning tea. They also have some congee and dim sum. And then she also enjoys going to the park in the afternoon. There is a sad answer to our question of how she soothes herself. She will calm down after crying for a little while. I was expecting them to say she sucked on her fingers or had a special something for some reason. Breaks my heart to think about her crying for any length of time.
Sydney's personality is self-willed & obstinate sometimes. She is fairly active, pungent & extroverted. What does pungent mean? I wondered if this was a translation thing. But it was kinda funny reading that word next to fairly active! The orphanage calls our little Sydney--Bao Bao Lian. KM's mom said Bao Bao means "Hold Me". Philip & Ashlyn used to say this all the time to me. OK--how did Bao Bao Lian come from Li Si Xin? I would love your comments about this.
Sydney's favorite food is fried tomatoes with eggs and Chang Fen. I'm going to need to learn how to make a few things other than Tex-Mex, pasta & scrambled eggs! She has grown a little. And her arms are really chubby. I love that!
We are wanting to hold Bao Bao Lian. Can't wait for Gothca Day and to be able to post her pictures! Come on RA (referral approval)!

Summer is Here!

OK-so obviously I have not posted in a long time. Sorry for the 3 people that follow me on a regular basis (just kidding)!! The kids had so much "stuff" going on school--it was crazy! And then Memorial weekend & my grandparents came for a visit. We went to my parents house in Clarendon over the holiday weekend. I apologize in advance--the pictures are not in correct order but blogger was not cooperating tonight.

Ashlyn taking a rest from ladder ball at the ranch.
Philip getting the potato launcher ready to shoot. (The gun in the background is not real.)

Philip & Ashlyn on the last day of school. Kinda a sad day for me.

Ashlyn at her Author's Tea Party. I thought she had the best book.

Philip at his track meet at school.

We placed the order for an orphanage call for Sydney earlier this week. With this call, we can ask 10 questions and hopefully pictures and updated measurements. We are praying that her orphanage answers the questions & sends pictures. The last 3 months have been long. We are on day 82ish waiting for our RA (referral approval). With the kids being so busy, the days have flown by! Other than the call, we have no "new" adoption news.

Please check out our friends Dave & Sheri for really great news! We hope that everyone has an awesome summer!